I hated watching the news.

It wasn't because it was boring, or even because it talked about things I didn't care about.

It was just so… sad.

I curled my feet closer into the pillow and flipped the channel.

The news reminds me of all the bad things that ever happened in my life. All the things that would have been headline news on my personal station. Kikyo news I liked to call it.

Breaking news: Inuyasha Nakamura, brother-in-law to Kikyo Tanaka, was killed last night in a fatal hit and run. He was killed instantly while his wife and sister to Kikyo, Kagome Nakamura watched the scene unfold from the window of their apartment four floors above. The car and any suspects have not yet been identified. Back to you, Saito.

Yes, my news would be sad. It had been for four months now. I was on this… naïve high… I was high on life before Inuyasha died. Now, with Kagome living here with me, every single thing I do remind me that… well, shit happens. And life sucks.

I hear Kagome in the guest bedroom, crying again. This is the third time this morning. Not only is she emotional from the pregnancy, but she can't stop thinking about how her husband won't be there to see her child be born. I know all of this only because I finally got her to open up to me about a month and a half ago.

I sigh heavily and take a sip of my coffee.

No one can sleep when a pregnant woman cries in the next room. But, I won't be telling her that.

Okay, so I won't exactly say that I'm… rich. I'm just… what's the word I'm looking for? Privileged. Yes, that's it. When mom died she gave me most of the inheritance. I'd like to say that it wasn't because she liked me more, but I'd be lying. She did, only because she hated Kagome.

She thought Kagome was a traitor for not taking over the family business: baking. Yes, in the oddest of ways, my mother resented her for not wanting to center herself into the little sect of lower-middle class and make what my mom called an 'honest living.' No, Kagome had bigger dreams. She was a writer, and a good one at that, and felt like staying stuck in our little home town wasn't going to do anything to get her into the history books. So, Kagome left to find her own life and found Inuyasha.

My mother never hated me for not wanting to take over. No, she said it was Kagome's responsibility to take over because she was the oldest and it was tradition. Huh… there is no room in tradition for life.

When my mother died, she left the bakery to my cousin Yumi and most of the money she had to me. Turns out, she was pretty loaded in savings and it surprised the heck out of me and Kagome, especially since Kagome realized that mom was bitter until death. She got over it though. She was happy with her life, 'with or without mom's money,' she said.

But, hey, I'm starting to pay off student loans and going to get my masters; I need a little dough to make my world go round.

Yeah, but a bundle of my money is now going to taking care of my big sister. I love her, and I won't let her suffer like this. She's living with me now, but since the apartment they lived in was their place, they're… excuse me, she's renting it out to some newly-wed couple from America. It made Kagome cry to see them in her home, happy and together. I had to handle that deal after that.

Anyway, she said the proceeds from that could go directly to me for taking care of her. I told her I agreed, but I don't take all the money. I've been setting it aside for my beautiful niece for when she comes into this world because I know my grief-ridden sister isn't thinking clearly.

But, neither am I, because I am currently sitting at my desk in my Sociology class thinking about all of this while my professor lectures. In fact, I'm so involved in my thoughts that I don't hear him call my name until the stranger next to me nudges my arm.

"Miss Tanaka!"

I sit up straight. "Sorry, I… uh… have a lot on my mind…"

I told my professor about my current situation and my lack of sleep, so he should understand.

"Well, guess what? You're not the only one in here with problems! Answer the question on the board!"

That son of a…

Yeah, I know this is a bit shorter, but this was all that was needed for this part. Tell me what you think.

mew...